Railway truck spring



Sept. 18, 1934. P; R. DRENNING RAILWAY TRUCK SPRING Filed NOV. 6. 1931 art UM fiery @rayyz Patented Sept. 18, 1934' 1 974 135 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY TRUCK srnino Percy It. Drenning, Baltimore, Md, assignor to T. H. Symington & Son., Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of Maryland 1 Application November 6, 1931, serial No. 573,470

Claims. (01. 2674) The invention relates to resilient load sustaindeflected, this being advantageous on account of ing means and has special reference to spring susthe superior riding qualities of elliptic springs, at pension or supporting means for the bolsters of least under'light load conditions. railway car trucks and the like; Another important object of the invention is to 5; The principal object of the invention, generally provide a spring assembly of this character-which stated, is to provide a novel spring combination may be made to' replace the ordinary or accepted and arrangement calculated to provide easier ridstandard type of nest without involving any ing qualities under light load conditions, to inchanges whatsoever in the construction of the crease the total spring capacity, and to prevent truck in which it is-used.-- a

; the usual objectionable jiggle or'vertical oscilla- A further object is to provide a spring nest havtion which, if permitted to build up, maybecome ing novel means forcentering the helical and of such amplitude and violence as to throw the ellipticspring means with respect to one another, bolster off the springs. apart of this centering means also operating to It is known that withthe ordinary spring-con maintain the entire'as'sembly in proper position 15 j struction involving a nest, cluster or assembly of with respectto the side frames and truck bolster. either single or double coil springs, or a combina- A still further object is to provideanassembly tion of both, all of the same height, travel and of this character which may be constructed as a capacity, the spring resistance is too stiff under complete and separate entity 'and handled as light loads or, if proper under light loads, insufiisuch so as to be capable'of installation as a re- 20; cient in capacity to take care of the maximum placement for a standard'nest without involving loads. Furthermore as the ordinary springs are manipulation of the individual parts at such time, usually of the same character'as regards height, the "entire structure-being held in assembled retravel and capacity they allnaturally have the lation by tie members and prevented from shiftsame or substantially the same period of-vibraing by cooperative engagement of means on the 251tion and the result is that the inevitable vertical assembly with the holes or recesses commonly oscillation builds up when synchronized with the provided in the spring seat or bolster. shocks or jars caused by passage of the car wheels An additional object is to provide a spring over the rail joints to such an extent that the truck assembly which will be simple and inexpensive bolster moves up and down upon the springs with to make, easy to install, positive in action, effi- 30; such amplitude of vibration that the bolster may cient and durable inservice, and a general imbe thrown off, resulting in unloading of the wheels provement in the art.

and possible consequent derailment, not to men- To the-attainment of the foregoing and other tion the tremendous damage done particularly to objects and advantages, the invention preferably perishable and fragile goods. consists in the detailsof construction and the 35 It is with the above facts in View that I' have arrangement and combination of parts to be devised the present invention which has for an hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and important object the provision of a novel truck illustrated in the accompanying drawing in spring assembly embodying spring elements or which: a a l I units of different types so as-to obtain all the Figure 1 is a plan view of a truck spring as- 40 benefits of the easy riding qualities of elliptical sembly constructed in accordance with my insprings, in addition to increasing the total ca- Vention; i v v i pacity and breaking up jiggle, the latter being Figure 2 is a view partly in side elevation and accomplished owing to the fact that the springs partly in section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure of different types have different respective periods 1, and I 45 of oscillation and will consequently act as a check Figure 3 is a partial cross sectional'view taken one upon another. on the line 3-3' of Figure 1, parts being in ele- Another object of the invention is to provide a vation. spring assembly embodying a combination of heli- Referring more particularly to the drawing,- I

cal springs and pairs of semi-elliptic springs so have shownthe assembly ascomprising similar arranged, connected and related as to constitute upper and lower caps 10 between which arein and perform the function of full elliptic springs. terposed helical spring units 11-' of any desired Another object is to provide an assembly of this diameter and formed of suitable sized stock decharacter in which the initial load comes upon pending upon the necessary capacity. In the the elliptic spring means so that they will be parpresent instance these units are represented as 5 tially compressed before the helical springs are single coils which may be of the A. R. A. 'standmas e eav 0.-

ard type though it should be distinctly understood that there is no particular limitation in this respect as double coils might be used if found preferable, this being also a matter depending upon the contemplated capacity of the entire assembly.

The means for maintaining the helical spring units in proper position between the caps might of course be variedjor'in other words different expedients might possibly be resorted to but I prefer to employ ties 12 passing through stamped: out curved projections 13 fitting within the ends of the springs.

In addition to the helical units, I make use of pairs of semi-elliptic springs "1ft disposed in confronting or superposed relationand'so connected as to define elliptic springs. Each semi-elliptic spring is provided centrally with the usual type of encircling band. 15 which acts to hold the plates or leaves assembled and against lateral hlee mehtknown Qt Pr ferr d means. m y be Prov ded. o P even na re ative o itudinal movementof the spring leaves but as 09-, do g hum s or bu t ns? or the ik for such Purpo e re o. Wel reo h z d t i f the so i us atedh o osite i s of he shrine t re hdte d or re ess d inward y a at 6 r he. re e n, an a ommo at n of the bands 15 so that the, elliptic units will e Pro er disp sed wi h relation o h rem inder he assfe hblyr t i e ed that. the t o om wh h. t e ands .1 are med: be of e fie h r ea r hick s. th the thickne s. 13 he spring a that. h -band Wihproie t be d e ter lhtiad s o e ps so. h hen h a sembly n t lled Within, a truc a d. e. holster e down the el pti pr will;- e nitia yo m r sed ora p ti n fth ir rave at to ay he willloe efieeted oe oe ei e te t. e r v the elical uni b me en= ergized.

or onheo hs he. ends. o thev pairs. of semi: llip r gs. 59 ha ul elhpt o pring, means will e ult, ro ide e members. 111. whi h ma oonr n t y. be o me as. asti s a d whic extend ossthe pa he we n e p ir oi e ie. ell pt r ng e. e members. be orm a hei end w t poeke s whi hreoei e urve xtensions. h-t e nds o rt e nn rmo t. o Th c s. r pr er bly formed with openings 21 to, permit the escape hywh erwhiehmie tother For ma nta nin t en ire. n ure. in. as. embled: posit on n t e. truck thev h nd are forme wit stampe rout mz ieo i sizflnttin it in e o e rreeess s comm n y provide n he p ins e ta dho s e o so iation nd engagement by the projections on nests of; usual ar ty.-.

, Owing to thefactthat the caps areconnected by the ties 12 and the fact that the ends-oflthe semi-elliptic unitsare connected bythe transverse ie 7 i h hehehds. 5 ec i ed: ithin. he ecesses or notches 16, and the further feature that he tens. c rry. the ur-re p oje n 13-. ttin it e .h lie t h s. it ,w l zbe po r t t at all of the elements of the assembly will beheld P t ly. n: Wel etition. h t;disp aoe m idh ert; nte t i e t o wil e prevented.

Ineifecting installation, itis me ely necessary that the, truck bolster be. jacked up so that the assembly may v be slippedinto place, within the W QQW Qthiheehd-o o r e. ope positioned here te i he h l' P Q .2-:11 170 1 1 1 from the lower cap into engagement within the holes or recesses provided for their reception in the spring seat, the projections on the upper cap then naturally taking a position in alinement with the corresponding holes or recesses in the underside of the bolster. The bolster is then let down upon the assembly,

In the operation, it will be seen that when the assembly is installed as above described and the weight of the bolster and the load comes upon it the. elliptic units 14 are initially compressed, the travel equalling the degree of projection of the bands 15 beyond the caps. The helical spring units 11 are. then of course also deflected. After the initial compression of the elliptic springs prior to energization of the helical units, it will be apparent that as the load is increased the elliptic springs will be deflected in parallel with the helical springs. In service it will be understood that as the elliptic springs have a different natural periQd of vibration from that of the helical units, each type of: spring will act as a check upon the other so that there will be no synchronization of vibration, thereby avoiding the building up, oi? the vertical oscillations, o-r destructive jiggle.

Another feature of advantage is that the ulti-. mate capacity of the assembly is far greater, or can be readily made much greater, than. that of the ordinary spring nest whereinlsingle, double, or a combination of both, helical coils are pro-. 105 vided. It is of course understood that thematter of dimensions and capacity of the assembly in so many pounds is not an essential feature of the invention as there is. such a wide. field for variation. However, reference may be had to. my cono pending application. for patent for Railway truck springs, filed, September 16th, 1931, Serial No. 563,189, for a. disclosure regarding dimensions, capacity of the individual units, etc. Attention: is, however, directed to, the. fact that in this assembly the capacity of. the elliptic. spring means is largewhen compared. with the total: capacity and may readily be as much as a third; This high proportion,v of elliptic spring capacity with respect to the total capacity is. of great advantage as 120 springs of; the elliptic type possess easy ridingqualities, and; their presence inv the assembly will prevent any stiffness of action. under light loads.

At the same time the increaseinthe total capacity as compared with that of-the standard type- 0f 1-25 nest will take care. of. even the. heaviest loads so that there will benodanger of over-stressing anyof the units. The, feature. of: the elimination of jiggle has already beemdiscussed. and it is conse-. quently believed-that from theforegoing the construction, operation. andv advantageswill be readily apparent to one skilled; in theart without further, explanation.

While Ihave shown and .describedthe preferred embodiment of, theinvention, it should be understood-that the. disclosure is merely an exemplification of the principlesinvolved-as theright is reserved to make alLsuch changes in thedetails of construction as. will widen: the fieldof utility and increase theadaptability of the device provided such changes constitute no departure-from the spirit of the invention. or the scope of the claims, hereunto appended.

Having thus described. the invention,. I claim:

1. In a. railway truck spring assembly, spring 145 caps, means. connecting the caps for limitingseparating movement, a plurality ofhelical spring units interposed between-the caps; a plurality of pairs of semi-elliptic springs interposed'between the caps and located at opposite sidesof the heli- 150 cal springs, transverse ties bridging the space between the pairs of semi-elliptic springs and having their ends formed with pockets, said semielliptic springs including master leaves having downturned ends fitting within pockets in said transverse ties, whereby the semi-elliptic springs will function as full elliptic springs, a band encircling the intermediate portion of each semielliptic spring, and projections on said bands adapted to center the assembly in a truck.

2. A railway truck spring assembly comprising spring caps, helical spring means interposed therebetween, elliptic spring means interposed between the caps, means tying the caps together, center bands carried by the elliptic spring means engaging said caps, means adapted to confine the elliptic spring means to the assembled caps and helical spring means, and projections on said bands extending beyond the caps adapted to center the assembly in a truck.

3. In a railway truck spring assembly, spring caps, means connecting the caps for limiting the helical springs, transverse ties connecting the semi-elliptic springs of each pair together and with the other pair whereby they will function as full elliptic springs, a band encircling the intermediate portion of each semi-elliptic spring, and projections on said band adapted to center the assembly in a truck.

4. A railway truck spring assembly comprising upper and lower spring caps, helical spring means and an elliptic spring having center bands disposed between said caps and arranged to operate in parallel under the applied load, the load surfaces of the helical spring means contacting with the inner surfaces of the caps and said center bands engaging said caps, and projections on said bands adapted to center the assembly in a truck.

5. A railway truck spring assembly comprising upper and lower spring caps, helical spring means and an elliptic spring having center bands disposed between said. caps and arranged to operate in parallel under the applied load, the helical spring means and elliptic spring being positioned by the caps, and projections on the bands adapted to center the assembly in a truck.

PERCY R. DRENNING. 

